Eco-Village Threatened By Eminent Domain
Los Angeles Eco-Village’s very existence is being threatened by the evil LA Unified School District, who wants to build a school, described as a “boondoggle”. The bastards! What? John Walsh (who spoke last night at our local libertarian supper club and is pictured at this link from a previous appearance, along with a real flattering photo *gag* of Yours Truly), has been described in a front page story as “The Freak Who Stopped The Subway.” Walsh is a paradoxical lefty union guy who defends property owners from eminent domain “redevelopment” land grabs on the assumption that most of those schemes are bogus. His profane description of liberals who love eminent domain until it happens to them (I’m paraphrasing for polite readership) amused the Hell out of me. Then they become champions of property rights and the free market. Often, and something like this may be happening to LA Eco-Village, the property to be stolen becomes inappropriately tagged as being in a “blighted” area, even if the redevelopers have to fraudulently alter map data in their paperwork. In the Eco-Village case, there seem to be other sites that weren’t even considered seriously. The Supreme Court’s Kelo decision didn’t have the fig leaf of public use (like a school or a highway), it just affirmed the right to grab property for a big retailer if it may increase tax revenue. More often, a public purpose is declared, abandoned when nobody’s looking, and then the property given to some corporate business. There’s an upcoming meeting about Eco-Village (ironically, at a *school*) URGENT - Final community meeting February 28th, 6pm @ Virgil Middle School Auditorium. We need your support!
